Before the announcement of important US job statistics, investors withdrew part of their money from the market, causing the benchmark indices to see their largest one-day loss in a month on Friday.
The Nifty dropped 293 points, or 1.2%, to settle at 24,852.15, while the Sensex was down 1,017 points, or 1.2%, to 81,183.93. With this, the indices broke a three-week gaining trend and finished the week down about 1.5%. The markets’ pullback this week follows the shares’ continuous rise in the preceding weeks.
Less than 160,000 jobs were added by the market in August, according to the US non-farm payrolls data, which was issued late on Friday evening. The world’s largest economy added 142,000 jobs during the month.
A few analysts drew attention to notable declines in the monthly jobs report figures and doubted that the US economy is still safe from recessionary threats. The worst-hit stocks on Friday included those of information technology, oil and gas, and financial services sectors. Amid a widespread correction, all of the sectoral indices on the BSE and NSE finished lower.
Provisional data indicates that domestic institutional investors purchased shares worth Rs 2,122 crore, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 621 crore. Market participants stated that with multiple public issues scheduled for the next weeks, some investors might have booked profits in the secondary market to build up funds for primary market investments.
The BSE Midcap index finished 1% lower and the BSE Smallcap index dropped 1.4% on the overall market. As a result, the market capitalization of businesses listed on the BSE decreased by around Rs 6 trillion.
